How Old Is Your Soul?: The Essential Guide To The Lessons, Gifts and Archetypes of Every Soul Age

By Alyssa Malehorn

What does it mean to be an old soul? How do we become one and why? In this revolutionary work, spiritual teacher and psychic medium Alyssa Malehorn illuminates the divine framework behind healing, growth and enlightenment on a soul level. These timeless truths provide clarity and support for those who seek to develop mastery over their inner wor

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raw Spirituality LLC
• Release date: Sep 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9780997991413

Alyssa Malehorn

Alyssa Malehorn is a spiritual teacher, soul guide, psychic medium and divine transmitter of healing energies for the purpose of illuminating and demystifying the path to enlightenment. Her mission is to empower, educate and enlighten all truth-seekers, in all aspects of life. Alyssa is a catalyst for transformational healing, wisdom, and joy for individuals and groups worldwide. She sees the spiritual meaning hidden within all events, from the everyday to global, and is a leader in the empowerment of those seeking freedom from overwhelm and fear. Alyssa is the creator of the life-changing, online Spirit Within: Spiritual Awakening Program, and the divinely inspired, best-selling programs Discover Your Divine Team: Spirit Guides, Archangels & Ascended Masters; Awakening & Ascension: Building Your Light Quotient; Channeled Light Healing; In The Light: State Of The Universe, and more. Information about individual and couple's consultations, speaking engagements, group workshops, meditation events, Reiki and healing classes (in Austin, Texas, as well as Sedona, Arizona, Southern California and other areas) is available at alyssamalehorn.com. Alyssa lives in Austin, Texas with her spiritual partner, Zack, happy dog, Bodhi, and talkative cat, Daisy.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE YOU WERE AN OLDER SOUL? Or that everyone around you was different than you, and that you didn’t fit into today’s world? It’s not unusual for mature and older souls to feel like a fish out of water. When I use the terms Mature or Old Soul, I’m referring to souls who have incarnated many, many times, and are well on their way to enlightenment.

This doesn’t mean that the older your soul is, the easier your life will be. It can be far different than expectations of choirs of angels and peaceful feelings all the time! It only means that those of us who are in the Mature and Old Soul levels typically see the world in much the same way, and we all go through a similar process of healing.

This information in this book arose from the experiences I’ve had in years of working with and helping clients and students who, as a group, are almost entirely older souls. I relate to the depth of feelings of my dear clients and students, as I am an older soul as well. We all share so many traits, challenges, and milestones. You wouldn’t be attracted to this writing if you weren’t also in that older soul phase. How Old Is Your Soul? came into being to help make your road a little less rocky, with more light to guide the way.

The intention of this book is to help you to see the motivations, gifts and struggles inherent within each soul age, so that you can live without judgment of others and without judgment of yourself. I believe that understanding these concepts is the key to relaxing into life, releasing expectations of yourself and others that aren’t based in the soul’s true nature.

It’s common for mature and old souls to feel things so deeply that depression or anxiety can become a pattern, get locked in, and become the new normal. The following pages not only contain information about who you are in your own soul phase and what to do about it, but the words on these pages are also transmitting healing, transformational energy to you, and if you’re highly sensitive, you’ll even feel it.

Part 1 of This Book covers the mind, body, soul and spirit complex, how our individual souls develop and grow, karma, and much more about our human process in general. Part 2 covers each of the soul ages, so you can understand other people in your life and the path your soul has taken up to this point. To fully absorb the healing that’s available for you here, I encourage you to take the time to do the exercises and meditations at the end of each chapter. These tools are designed to help you more fully understand your spiritual journey, transcend fear, resolve the past, and elevate into inner peace and harmony.

I’m very grateful to be your guide on this journey, and I’m honored to work with you in this way. I have so much love for you. Thank you.

Blessings to you,

Alyssa

~ PART 1 ~

THE FRAMEWORK OF SOUL EXPANSION

The soul’s natural state is freedom.

~ CHAPTER 1 ~

THE SOUL & HOW IT GROWS

Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges. ~ Carlos Castaneda

WE ARE ALL MULTIDIMENSIONAL BEINGS, with a mind, a body, a soul, and a spirit. That four-part complex of energy holds every aspect of us within it. Each of these components of our complete being is equally important, although each has its natural state and its natural gifts. When we fully understand these aspects of ourselves and the role that each part plays, we begin to live more authentic lives. We edge closer and closer to our true nature, and life changes dramatically for the positive. These aspects (the mind, body, soul and spirit) overlap and operate synergistically in a dynamic, awe-inspiring way.

In popular culture in recent years, there has been a growing focus on spirituality. This is because everyone on the planet is evolving spiritually, and looking for guidance and answers as they shift out of spiritual slumber into an awakened state of deeper authenticity. All humans are craving healing on a soul level, wanting to feel happy and complete. The soul’s growth is the key to achieving those goals. When you support yourself on a soul level, the rest of you—your mind, body and spirit—all fall into alignment, and voila! You’re happy! This is the reason for this book: to facilitate your soul’s growth by guiding you along your spiritual path.

To begin that soul-supportive journey, we need to have some clarity about the entire four-part system, starting with your spirit. Your spirit is the part of you that knows your perfection and has no fear, the part of you that’s always aware of and connected to your Divine Source. Can you imagine always having zero fear of anything and always knowing that you are an aspect of your Source? Your spirit holds that knowledge consistently and continuously, without any hesitation or doubt. On a spirit level, every one of us has a knowing that there is this part of us that can’t ever be destroyed, manipulated or separated from Source. Somewhere deep within you, your spirit knows that you’re just fine exactly the way you are, no matter what!

The spirit is beautiful and divine in every one of us, even in those who suffer with deep personal issues or who have committed horrible crimes. It can be hard to imagine that someone who’s intentionally harmed another could have a pristine spirit, but they do. The spirit doesn’t suffer, ever. It doesn’t know darkness or fear, because it hasn’t forgotten what you are. Your spirit knows that your true nature is eternal Source energy. Your true nature is light.

You know that glorious feeling that spontaneously happens when you’re so full of gratitude or love for someone or something that it feels like your heart could just burst out of your chest? That’s the way your spirit feels all of the time. When you get that incredible love-and-gratitude feeling, you’re connecting into your magnificent spirit, your highest self.

There are many ways to access your spirit intentionally. My favorite ways are deep meditation and mindfulness/thankfulness practices, such as repeating a gratitude-based phrase (for example, I am so blessed or I am thankful) many times until you feel your mood lift and your frequency rises to that awesome spirit-connected feeling.

Although it may seem unusual to be connected with that spirit part of you, it’s actually totally normal and natural, and you arrived in this lifetime with that connection fully established, even if you haven’t been aware of it before now. By picking up this book, you’re already on your way to remembering your true nature.

Moving on to the second aspect of your four-part complex: your body. You’d think the body would be pretty self-explanatory, and in some ways it is, but I’d like to give you more of the big picture. Your body is your vehicle. Yes, your body is your physical self, made up of cells, tissue, organs, muscles, bones and DNA. But your body also includes something called the subtle body. The subtle body includes the energy field surrounding your body, what we call the aura. Together, your physical body and the subtle body make up your complete body.

The subtle body also includes the chakras or energy centers, along with the other layers and intricacies of your energy system. To dive into that deep pool of information about the subtle body wouldn’t be appropriate for what we’re exploring here, but just know that when your physical body dies, you have an energy body that continues to thrive. That energy body connects and blends with every other aspect of your beautiful being while you’re here in physical form. When you’re no longer in physical form and the physical body dies, the soul and the energy body are what live on.

Now, on to the third aspect of your four-part complex: your mind. This is the aspect of us that sometimes feels inferior, sometimes superior, sometimes lost, opinionated, fearful or loving, but it is not usually any one of those consistently. Our minds tend to sway with the turning of events in our lives, unable to stay centered or focused without some practice and work to deliberately train the mind to behave. Meditation is a good example of that type of work.

Our mind can be incredibly powerful. It can be used to support us in so many ways; help us move forward in every area of our lives; and to learn, retain and apply knowledge. But the mind also has a rebellious and fearful side. Because of that fear, it can contribute to our resisting our natural growth and spiritual evolution. Our mind tends to want to lead our entire life experience and, because of its fickle nature, it’s certainly not qualified to do that. When we let our mind lead, all heck can break loose! It’s not designed to be the head honcho of our human experience, and it doesn’t have the wisdom and natural leadership ability of the soul. When we allow our mind to lead our life experience, the soul knows its power has been overthrown and it wants to be in its rightful role. The soul will ache to lead.

What does it feel like when your soul is aching to lead? The feelings of general overwhelm or dissatisfaction can be a subtle nagging in the back of your mind or an intense frustration, but either way, you know something is just off when your soul is unfulfilled. Most people on the planet right now have some degree of this as an ongoing issue. The mind or the body have been in the driver’s seat for too long, and I’m going to help you correct that in the coming pages.

Speaking of the soul, let’s get to it. Spiritually, this is the most important part of the four-part complex—the part of you that you’re here to grow and develop. Your soul is the part of you—the true, authentic self—that has incarnated many times, some of us more than others. Your soul is who you really are. Every time you arrive here on Earth in a physical form, it’s the result of a decision—a conscious choice made by you—to have a human lifetime in the specific family, geographic region, society, era and individual body that you’ve arrived in. Let that really sink in! You chose your parents, your eye color, where you were born, your intelligence level, and the challenges you were going to face in this lifetime. I must’ve thought I was a real badass before I was born, because I chose some interesting characteristics! (Picture the Southern Baptist deacon’s daughter who was seeing dead people and talking to spirits in the hallway outside of Sunday School, for starters. Add serious mystery illnesses early in life and you’ve got the makings of a pretty tough chick.) With whatever you chose for yourself, I’m sure you must’ve thought you were pretty strong, too, and you’d be right. It takes a lot of courage to incarnate here. You have choices and you chose this life.

These multiple lifetimes are the most common method for our soul’s evolution; your soul evolves, grows and develops in each and every lifetime. The soul drags your unresolved issues from one lifetime to the next, carrying that baggage in the mind and the body until it’s healed. This can manifest in many different ways, as issues that show up early in life, such as illnesses, phobias, birth defects, learning challenges, abusive parents, and many other traits and situations that don’t seem to make logical sense. We can heal those issues and the trauma that accompanies them, by discovering and connecting with the hidden treasure within each of us—our soul. As we resolve what we’ve carried with us from lifetime to lifetime, the process of healing those issues helps our soul to move along in its developmental journey.

In a nutshell, this explains why we would ever choose to experience challenging circumstances or traits in any lifetime. Why wouldn’t we just choose to be born physically beautiful, with no health problems, no emotional issues, and to be born into a wealthy, loving family in a safe, nice neighborhood, without any problems at all? Because the more challenges we choose to overcome—the more we have to deal with—the more opportunities for our soul to grow. Believe it or not, your soul’s growth was your top priority when you were making those pre-life choices. Your comfort and ideal life circumstances would only be chosen if those choices wouldn’t interfere with your learning.

The most important thing to remember about your life is that everything is an exercise. Whatever the situation, it’s an exercise. Everything that happens in your world—good things, painful things, everything—they are all exercises that we’ve chosen to experience for our soul’s progress. No matter what it is, it’s not personal. It’s an exercise. You are always getting what you want on a soul level, in every circumstance, in every situation. It might not seem like what you want. You might say, There’s no way I wanted this! My job (spouse, friend, mom, dad, fill in the blank) is terrible! I want good things! But your soul knows what it truly wants to experience, in order for you to eventually feel the freedom and love that’s your Divine birthright.

Many people tend to feel victimized by life’s painful events, illnesses, and betrayals, and are unwilling to believe that this life could be a soul-training and development experience, with this planet acting as our centralized training facility. We must consider accepting this as a higher truth as we step toward true, ever-growing happiness. This concept is very important for your success in the steps you’re about to take. You don’t have to believe it right this second, but for now, consider believing that it could potentially be true.

Interconnectedness and Remembering

Your spirit, mind, body and soul have an interesting relationship. In most of us, these four aspects are fragmented; they’re not in alignment with each other at all. It’s common for each aspect to be in competition with the others, attempting to lead your entire human experience and be the boss. It’s even more common for us to rely solely on our mind when it’s convenient, our body when it’s convenient, our soul when it’s convenient… you get the idea.

Why would you want to eliminate that competition between these aspects of self, and what are the side-effects of that lack of harmony? Self-judgment, self-criticism, overwhelm, physical and emotional exhaustion, repetition of painful experiences, and a feeling of disempowerment, for starters. There are more, but we’ll get to that in the chapters on the specific soul ages. For now, know that there is relief coming.

Through integrating our four-part complex by using spiritual understanding and development, we can release the self-imposed barriers to that integration. These barriers are the beliefs, thoughts, ideas, feeling and patterns that we’ve accumulated throughout our lives. They contribute to an illusion of separation from our soul-selves and our Divine Source. Heal and release the barriers, and there we’ll find our true essence. When we’ve done that, we’ve connected with the soul and we’ve reconnected our mind, body, soul and spirit all together as one. In the process, we begin to have a deep understanding and compassion for our own soul’s path. This clarity then illuminates everyone else’s soul path that we come across. Compassion and understanding gently overcome judgment and critical thoughts about ourselves and everyone else.

Sounds good, I know. Might sound impossible, but this is a natural, normal part of your development. You’ve just been in the dark, or without a map. Now we’re starting to shed some light on the details of your soul, and this will all become more clear as we proceed.

To make things even more interesting, your body follows the cues from your mind. What your mind believes—consciously and unconsciously—gets imprinted on your body, your cells, your DNA. Your body is like a recorder that’s just playing back what it’s recorded from your mind (your thoughts, feelings, beliefs). What you think and what you believe in your mind, has convinced your body of its truth. Your mind is good at that, and your body is easily persuaded.

Your soul listens to your mind in a different way. Everything that your soul experiences, it sees as an opportunity to grow and learn. All of the bondage that your mind can project, such as thoughts that start with I can’t or I’m not good enough or If only or I’ll be happy when… , your soul doesn’t believe it. Your soul’s innate wisdom can see straight through that mind talk, regardless of the baggage and wounding you’ve brought along with you to resolve in this lifetime. How is it that your soul can see your limitless possibilities? It’s simple.

The soul’s natural state is freedom.

Even though you’ve arrived in this world with some burdens and some gifts, in perfect proportion for your individual journey, and even though you may feel overwhelmed by said gifts and burdens at times, your soul has wisdom. It knows exactly what’s going on with your body, your mind and, of course, your spirit. And the soul knows exactly how to work its way into that natural state of